Wednesday, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at the Parkland, Florida school that expelled him. Authorities now have evidence that the teenager had an unhealthy penchant for sharing problematic rants on social media.
According to CCN, A private Instagram group chat has been discovered that shows Cruz repeatedly espousing racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic views – while also feeding his obsession with violence and guns.
Cruz joined the group around August 2017 and most of the conversation is between him and five other people. Even the group’s name, “Murica (American flag emoji) (eagle emoji) great” — was given by the confessed shooter.
“Cruz wrote that he hated, “jews, ni**ers, immigrants.” He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks.
The statements were not made in jest.
There are hundreds of racist messages, racist memes and racist Instagram videos posted in the group. One member even joked about Cruz’s particular venomousness, saying that although he hated black people, too, he didn’t “to a point I wanna kill the (sic) like nick.”
Cruz said he hated black people simply because they were black; Cruz hated Jews because he believed they wanted to destroy the world.
After one member expressed hatred for gay people, Cruz agreed, saying, “Shoot them in the back of head.” White women drew Cruz’s hatred as well, specifically those in interracial relationships, whom he referred to repeatedly as traitors.”
In his very first message Cruz also bragged about writing a letter to President Trump — and claims he received a response. The White House has yet to confirm or deny these claims.
When he ultimately confesses to his friends, “I think I am going to kill people,” a member finally speaks up and tells him he’s gone too far. That’s when he backs off and says he was just kidding – unfortunately, this would later prove to be a lie.
